Jewish Thinker- and there are many good arguments how they are no longer binding or how they were never binding. That’s why it’s a machlokes and that’s exactly my point. It’s a machlokes about an obscure Gemara that’s not even brought down lehalachah by the Rosh, Rambam, Rif, or Shulchan Aruch. There are many machlokes in halachah and hashkafah and yet none seem to be as polarizing as this. It’s ironic that the focal point of Zionism usually happens on Yom HaAtzmaus, where we remember how the students of R’ Akiva were punished for not treating each other respectfully. Calling a person who doesn’t say Hallel on Yom HaAtzmaus a heartless sonei Yisroel, or calling someone who does say Hallel on Yom HaAtzmaus a kofer or an apikores (I know I’m speaking in extremes here) seems to be completely the opposite the nature of sefirah. We are disrespecting two legitimate streams of halachic Judaism. Can’t we recognize that this is but a small detail in our Avodas Hashem and admit that there is halachic basis to each side? Can’t we discuss halachah without the poisonous rhetoric?
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